Lost again

Trust me

 This scared them.

A lot. Not many people had connected with Pin that quickly before. They hoped that it wasn't him. Pin liked this person, more than they did most people.

They soon came to the clearing where they had found Kace before. He was sitting by the water's edge... thinking. Pin approached Kace, careful not to scare him, and called his name.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I didn't leave anything else at your shop, did I?" He said jokingly. Kace had lightened up after Pin's visit yesterday, then he noticed their slightly tear-stained face, and then he realised that they weren't in a joking mood. "What's wrong, you look like you've been crying." He then walked up to them slowly before they backed off.

"Where were you last night?" Pin's words sounded more accusatory than they had intended. Their eyes trained on the grass beneath their feet.

"I was here all night..." He tilted his head in confusion and felt slightly scared that he had done something to offend them.

"The manuscripts were stolen last night and we need to find them. My mother is balling her eyes out over it and I don't know what to do." The tears returned to their face and as much as they tried to hold them back, it was futile.

"You think I took them! Why would I do that?" Kace was hurt by the false accusations but he could see how much Pin was suffering because of what had happened. He lowered his voice and slowly walked towards them, "I'm sorry for raising my voice, but you shouldn't have jumped to conclusions without evidence, or even talking to me about it properly." He held Pin close to him and allowed them to bury their head into his chest to cry.

"I'm sorry." They said in between crying and remembering to breathe. Then a wave of relief washed over them, thank the Gods they were wrong.

"It's okay, I understand. You're in pain." He held Pin tighter to try and calm them before letting go and wiping their tears away with his sleeve.

Pin eventually calmed down and told him what had happened, showing him the hair and blood that they found at the broken display case. Kace motioned for them to sit under the tree with him and wrapped his arm around them, rubbing their back and shoulder, in an attempt to comfort them and it seemed to work.

"Would you like me to help you try and find it? Two heads are better than one." He suggested with a pathetic huff that sounded like it was supposed to be a laugh.

"Some company would be nice." Pin smiled. Why is he being so nice to me? I just accused him of theft. They pushed the thought out of their head because they could find the book and spend time with Kace. He stood up and offered his hand to them, they took it and pulled themself up from below the tree. Kace packed up the few belongings he had and shoved them into a small drawstring bag. Pin pulled themself up onto joey's back and guided him up behind them.

"Would now be a good time to mention the fact that I don't know how to ride a horse?" He said with a concerned look on his face as Pin chuckled to themself.

"Don't worry. Hold on to me, we won't be going too fast anyway. There's no rush." Pin felt his strong arms wrap around their waist and heat rose to the surface of their face, were they blushing? No. Surely not. They kicked Joey on and started to walk back to the village, being careful to not let Kace fall off behind them. "Oh, by the way, you are going to meet my parents and they can be a bit overbearing. They just want to make sure I'm safe."

"It's okay, I'm sure they aren't that bad." He smiled but was slightly jealous of them.

"You'll see, just make sure to prepare yourself." Kace gripped onto them tighter as Joey quickened his pace. Their face only grew redder.