A Flicker, a Thought PV Theo Duncain Closed

@Dealla Prince

Having been on camping trips and lived with his siblings for years and years, Theo recognized a 'spy mission' in seconds, even if it wasn't initiated by Ana or the twins. When Dee tugged at his wrist, Theo would get to his feet as quietly as he could, look back to the others, who were all distracted, with a smirk before following Dee. It wasn't the first time Phyllis was camping with the Duncains, his dad and siblings all quite liked his classmate, so he didn't feel bad leaving her alone with them. She would not be excluded by the others.

The two of them exchanged silent looks ad grins as they ran- one could almost say fled- from the others. Theo wouldn't stop her. He knew the campsite and where they were headed, they would not get lost. Every now and then he glanced to the back of Dee's head, the smile never leaving his face. Theo loved these trips. He enjoyed every minute of the limited time he had with his family every year since he first went to Ilvermorny and the games had not changed one bit. What had changed was the presence of new participants.

Theo liked Phyllis. Hell, she was like a second sister by now, they were in the same year and house, both played Quidditch and had spend very much time together, it had felt almost natural that she had to be invited to go camping.
Dee on the other hand... had a different kind of energy. They had not spent that much time together, but he did notice that she didn't just play along with the adventure she was given, she made her own. She had at the ball and she did at the camp, making Theo's heart jump with joy every time. And he couldn't wait to see where this one would lead.

When they were quite close to the lake, Dee let go of his wrist and turned away- giving Theo a chance to grab it with his other hand, brush over the skin that suddenly felt cold without her fingers clasping it, without her noticing. Theo saluted with a smirk at her praise. "We could have never done it without you, agent Prince." He would follow her quietly as she first started to explain why she had taken him there and then... scolded him? Theo grinned. "What, and take the risk that you back out of this?" He playfully nudged her arm. "Admit, it's worth the chaos. Also-" Theo would raise his left arm and look at his watch. "We've had a solid four minutes alone now. I'll give us another ten, before the enemy hunts us down with sticks and pinecones."

Theo followed her as she started walking towards the shore, and Dee smiled to herself, pleased at his reaction. There was a sort of nervous tingling in her stomach, faint but present. Pleasant. Expectant. She laughed at the implication that he'd tricked her into being here - from what she'd seen so far, Theo didn't have a single deceptive bone in his body - then shook her head, glancing up at him from the side through her lashes. "I wouldn't have backed out," she replied easily, nudging him back playfully as she turned her eyes forward again. She let herself drift closer until she was walking right next to him, Theo's arm brushing hers, warm on her skin. "You had me hooked with the invitation immediately. Too intrigued to pass up on it." Her smile widened a little.

It was obvious how much Theo adored his family, his siblings. That this time was precious to him, seeing as he spent most of his year away from them. It was hard to describe how she felt about the fact that he'd wanted her here on this trip, that he'd thought to include her despite the fact that they'd only met each other once before that. Flattered didn't quite hit the mark, although it was certainly part of it. Pleased that she wasn't the only one who'd felt an immediate connection between the two. Her voice was a little lower as she added the next words, not bothering to specify what she meant, exactly. Let him read into it what he wanted. "Definitely worth it." It had already been worth it, in several ways. The chaos of the Duncain family was one aspect, the distance, physical and emotional, from home another. Theo's presence a definite third. Whatever happened now... bonus.

His comment about their most likely limited time elicited a snort, then an impish grin. "We better make the most of it then," she observed. "No time to waste." Bumping her shoulder into Theo's arm, she jogged off, coming out from between the trees. It was late afternoon and the sun was nearing the horizon, not quite sunset, but not too far off, light reflecting off the water from the low angle. It was a rocky shore, and she picked out a medium-sized boulder as her destination, clambering up its side with dexterity that came from a childhood spent climbing around on cliffs near Whitehaven. Settling down, she let her legs dangle over the side, grinning back at Theo. The height of the rock meant she was looking down at him slightly for once - that boy was tall - and she leaned forward, smiling. "We can use this to defend ourselves against the incoming attack," she explained, laughter in her eyes. That was definitely the reason she'd picked this place, and not at all the stunning view over the lake.

Pausing, Dee tilted her head slightly, deliberating how to proceed with her... whatever it was. Plan was saying too much, it was more... A notion, a fleeting thought that had brought her here, triggered by the realisation that she liked the way Theo looked in the flickering campfire light. That she liked it when he looked at her. That smiling could be so easy, and heartbreak could be far away.

She lowered her lashes a little, suddenly feeling oddly self-conscious. Tucked her hair behind her ear with one hand, not that it would stay there for long before it would escape and fall around her face again. "So..." she said, drawing out the word, her eyes on Theo's face. Studying how the light hit him and reflected in his brown eyes. "What do you want to do with the little peace we have?"

@Opeila Winters

@Dealla Prince

Dee's assurance that she would not have backed out made Theo smile. He enjoyed bringing friends- or even potential friends that he didn't know that well yet- into the welcoming and chaotic circle that his family was. Only that he wasn't even sure what Dee was. A potential friend? Potential... more? Rarely had he found himself feeling understood the way he did when he was around Dee.

He felt his fingers twitch when her arm brushed against his. Just a little further and their hands would touch... But then he didn't. The short tension of the moment was broken when Dee bumped her shoulder into his arm and jogged away. With a grin he followed after, catching up with her without a problem. He would let her lead the way, watch her climb onto the boulder.

The light of the slowly disappearing sun was reflected by her hair and without thinking, he raised his hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear- he stopped himself, redirecting the movement to run his hand through his own hair. "Well thought, agent Prince", he said with a nod, "Upgrade of defenses approved."

To his own surprise, he found himself... nervous. Why had Dee taken him here? He noticed that she was watching him too and suddenly he was very aware of how close they were. He would only need to move a little to close the distance between him and Greta.
Greta? The name had appeared in his mind so sudden that it almost startled him. Not Greta. He had not seen the Durmstrang girl in quite a while and he had questioned how he felt about her nowadays for a long time. And while he had not come to a conclusion yet, he could not in good consciousness kiss Dee while thinking about another girl. That was not fair.

So with a smile he would turn sideways to face the water, crouch to pick up a flat stone and skip it across the surface. "When we were younger, we had this huge inflated flamingo that we brought here every year to sit on when we played in the lake. I think Elias eventually hit it with a toy arrow by accident." He threw another stone into the lake. "The end of a good soldier." The whole place was crawling with stories and memories from years and years of camping trips.

"Oh, but!" Theo would push off the boulder and jog away. "I'll be right back!" He'd disappear between the trees for a few moments and then drag something out. Several long pieces of wood had been tied together to form a raft. Not the most professional construction and the rope as well as the wood looked like they had seen better years- many of them- but that did not stop Theo from dragging it into the water. A little wobbly it would stay afloat. "Aha!", he'd call out triumphantly. "It still swims!"

Dee's eyes were bright with expectation as she leaned forward, watching Theo watching her, a small smile tugging on her lips. There was a tension in the air, close as they were, and Dee enjoyed how easy, how natural it felt. His hand came up as if to reach for her, but then just went to his own hair. Dee considered stretching out a hand herself, to touch his shoulder, the side of his neck, his cheek, just see how he'd react, but before she'd come to a decision, Theo was turning away, squatting down to pick up rocks, and Dee was left to straighten up with a small rush of disappointment. Perhaps she should have been more forward. Or perhaps she'd imagined it, the electricity of the moment, because if she hadn't, would he really be thinking about inflatable flamingos right now?

Yet she couldn't help but grin at the pictures his story conjured, and she nodded gravely. "He served well, may he rest in peace." She glanced out over the glistening water, trying to imagine how the scene felt to him. Kind of like home, she supposed. Like summer and good memories. The way she'd feel watching the sun set over the sea from the cliffs near her hometown. She was about to ask how long they'd been coming here, curious about how their trips had started, why they had been coming to the same place every year when they could have gone camping anywhere, but before she could get the word out, Theo was jumping up and running away.

Her mouth half open, she stared after him in surprise, then her eyes narrowed, a little annoyed. Man, she must really suck at this flirting thing to have him run away from her, huh? After all the trouble she'd taken to get him here? Shaking her head, she leaned back on her boulder, resolving to just enjoy the fading warmth of the setting sun. Declare this experiment a failure, perhaps she'd have another go some other time, vexing as it was to admit. Dee wasn't very used to rejection.

But it was hard to hold onto her annoyance when he returned with a mysterious construct of wooden planks and rope, clearly excited, then presented it like some sort of marvel of engineering when it actually managed to float. The corner of her mouth quirked up and she hopped down from her boulder, absorbing the impact with grace, then made her way over to Theo and the probably most rickety watercraft she had ever seen. (Not entirely true, considering the constructs Dee and her friends had built in her childhood hadn't been any more stable, but her memory looked on those favourably.) She'd been silly to worry. Whether she'd imagined things or not, wasn't the most important thing that she was enjoying herself around him?

"You know," she remarked as she hopped from one stone to the next until she could carefully step on the raft - it held her, another test passed - then turned around with raised eyebrows and a teasing light in her eyes. "When a girl takes you to a romantic spot at sunset, risking her life on a raft that will probably fall apart once both of us are on it might not be exactly what she had in mind." She took a step backwards, the raft swaying on the water, ready to jump off when it went under. It didn't. "Lucky for you, I enjoy a good adventure."

@Opeila Winters

@Dealla Prince

The few moments it took to drag the raft out of the woods- frankly he had not been sure at all if it would still be where they had left it last time- had allowed Theo to take some deep breaths and regain his composure that had been slightly shaken by the thought of Greta. He had never kissed or even been this close with Greta, but a part of him had wondered at times what it would be like. Everything had been so complicated but with Dee... it didn't seem to be. And yet-

Part of him was a little worried of how Dee would react to his sudden running off. He was sure he had not imagined the tension of that moment. But she seemed quite alright when he returned with the raft, grinning and and even going so far to step onto the raft he wasn't sure at all would hold her. But somehow it did. "Mhh, I know. But somehow I figured that you, knowing me at least a little, would expect something like it when taking me to a romantic spot at sunset.", he would return with a wink.

"See, and I knew you would enjoy this." With a grin he too would place one foot on the raft and then the second- only pushing off just a bit too much. "Woah- No!" Dropping to his knees, he would stretch to grab one of the rocks around the lake, but no chance- the raft was drifting away, slowly towards the middle of the lake. "Huh. You're getting your adventure!" A little sheepishly, Theo would smirk up at Dee.

Keeping her balance on a slightly swaying but stationary raft had been one thing, doing it on a raft that was both drifting away from shore and suddenly rocking with more enthusiasm after Theo had dropped to his knees was significantly harder. With something between a gasp and a squawk, Dee lurched forward, going down on her knees as well and barely managing to catch herself on Theo's shoulders to keep from toppling overboard.

At that point, the shore was several metres away and drifting further, and Dee stared at it in mild disbelief. "You're right," she replied with an exaggerated sigh. "I guess I should have expected this." It wasn't the worst thing, she mused. Being stuck on a raft together might make for unforeseen opportunities - at least he couldn't run off as easily anymore - and when push came to shove (hopefully not literally), they could always swim back to shore.

She grinned at Theo, pausing for a second as she realised how close they once again were. Both kneeling, her hands on his shoulders, they were in almost the perfect position to just lean in... Then, her mind snapped back to a more important nuance of what Theo had just said. Her eyes narrowed, voice taking on an accusing edge. "You thought it was romantic?" she demanded. So perhaps she hadn't imagined the tension between them. But then why would he start babbling about flamingos and even go through the effort of locating this raft? The concept that perhaps he had felt it but didn't want to pursue it didn't cross her mind. (And anyway, he really shouldn't have gotten himself stuck on a raft with her if that was the case.) Really, getting Jack to flirt with her had never taken this much effort.

The thought had come quickly, unexpectedly, and Dee winced when she realised it, fingers tightening on Theo's shoulders for a moment before they went slack. She let go of him, scooting away slightly so she was sitting more centrally on the wobbly raft, trying to cover her momentary lapse with an attempt to stabilise their ride. There was no reason to tempt fate, after all, and she needed a moment to breathe without looking at her new American... whatever they were now. The comparison to Jack wasn't fair to him, and below the surface she knew that. Perhaps all of this wasn't entirely fair. But she felt good around Theo, and didn't she deserve to chase that, too?

After a moment, she took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind. Easier not to worry about it too much. The tension went out of her shoulders, and when she glanced at Theo again, she was smiling slightly, the storm gone as quickly as it had come. She was getting better at this. Hoping he hadn't noticed her small slip, Dee waved for him to sit next to her. "So, Captain Duncain, where are we headed?"

@Opeila Winters

@Dealla Prince

Theo dropping to his knees caused the raft to rock, effectively making Dee stumble as well. Still trying to grip one of the big rocks by the shore to stop them from drifting away, he only noticed her loss of balance when she caught herself on his shoulders. "Woah!" His own hands shot up to stop her from falling, gripping her waist before he could think about it. As soon as he felt like she wasn't going to fall off the raft, he let go, gripping her elbows instead.

"Sorry, you okay?", he asked, deliberately facing the water rather than her. A light redness had spread over his cheeks and he took a deep breath. Get a grip, Theodore.
Fortunately the brunette didn't seem too annoyed by being stuck on a raft in the middle of a lake with him, Theo however felt himself growing more nervous by the second. "I um... Maybe we could paddle back using our hands... Or..." He looked around but didn't find another available option. Except... He turned to Dee with a playful smirk, trying to keep the mood positive. "Say the word and your knight will sacrifice himself to push the ship back to shore!" He offered something that resembled a bow, as much as it was possible while kneeling.

"You thought it was romantic?"

Theo had quoted her without thinking, not expecting to have it thrown back to him like that. His first instinct was to say yes without a second thought, but he hesitated, his mouth already open to answer. A yes would have been honest, but what would Dee make of it? Giving the place a label, would this make Dee have expectations or hopes he was no longer sure he could fulfill?
... Well, he could hardly answer no without making the situation uncomfortable, could he?
"... I do. It's a wonderful spot, I always loved spending time here." He offered a smile, hopeful that he had not said anything wrong.

The hope faltered when she winced and scooted away from him, letting go of his shoulders. Dammit, had he messed it up after all? "Dee, I-" What was he going to say? What could he say that would cheer her up without being unfair? "Are you okay?", he ended up asking. How lame. Theo usually wasn't bad with words and conversations but he rarely ever felt like he was balancing on a thin line like he did now.

But Dee seemed to catch herself quickly, waving for him to sit next to her, which he did, moving from his knees to properly sit down. "Well, Miss Prince-", he started, but was interrupted by the raft. The old rope that held the raft together tore under his feet when he shifted, causing about 1/3 of the raft to part from the piece that Dee and Theo sat on. "Gahh, dammit!" He fell on his backside as he pushed off the part that drifted away, trying to keep his shoes dry. "As you know, this is an adventure trip, so for now we watch our ship fall apart and thennn... we ummm, explore the wonderful local waters!"

There was no denying Dee was enjoying this situation. The closeness, their momentary privacy. Perhaps a little too much. The short moment of Theo's hands on her waist had not gone unnoticed, even if he had shifted his grip immediately, and well, the blush was hard to miss, as close as they were. He was even babbling, which, unexpectedly, was kind of cute.

Yet, his response to her indignant question was not what she'd wanted. In all fairness, he probably couldn't have given a response she'd wanted to hear, but this was likely the worse of the choices. Because if he had thought it was romantic, and she hadn't made the whole situation up in her head, that meant he had noticed her intent and actively decided he didn't want it. That meant his cute flush and hands on her waist meant nothing, except that maybe he was uncomfortable. Rejection flashed through her, first hot, then cold, and she was glad for the opportunity to back away a little and collect herself. She hadn't expected it to hurt like this, hadn't realised how much she'd already set on this silly little flicker of an idea. Ignored the ache in her throat, and tried not to draw the parallels to the bigger, uglier rejection she'd experienced a few weeks ago. There was even a small, irrational flash of anger at Theo, but she tried to grind that out as fast as she could. Wasn't his fault, after all, and she really did not want to ruin their friendship.

Are you okay came from Theo, a little hesitantly. Great. He thought he'd hurt her feelings. Which, of course, he inadvertantly had, but she didn't want him to know that. "Peachy," she replied, and winced at the dry tone in her voice. She'd really never been much of an actress, and usually didn't care to be.

Thankfully, the raft and their situation - which now seemed a lot more unfortunate than it had just a minute ago - provided a much needed distraction. Dee yelped as the sudden departure of a significant part of their ride shifted the balance and she almost tipped backwards before she caught herself. Theo seemed increasingly out of his element, too, and Dee sighed, then shifted around and began to take off her shoes. "You know," she observed, a teasing edge returning to her voice, but it still sounded strained in her ears. Perhaps she was a little angry, after all. And why shouldn't she be? If she hadn't imagined the signals? "I thought we'd been over this. Who says I need a knight to rescue me?" Setting them neatly down next to her on the remaining raft, she got up and jumped into the water with all the grace she could muster - and that the wobbly boards would allow.

When she resurfaced, she pushed the hair back from her face, and stuck her tongue out at Theo. "I can push this back to shore myself."

@Opeila Winters

@Dealla Prince

Theo didn't know what to say. He wasn't good at this stuff, he hadn't been good at putting his feelings into words with Greta- which, to be fair, had a lot to do with his knowledge of German being limited to elementary school lessons and his more eloquent younger sister's help. But this time it was because he felt that whatever truth he could offer the girl would hurt her. So he fell silent at her curt response, hoping for the moment to pass.

It was the raft that saved them and while it was just making their situation a little more difficult, Theo was grateful for the distraction, even more so, when Dee began to tease him again. He felt the grin creep back onto his face as he watched her jump into the lake and stick her tongue out to him.
"Well you know", he started, slowly getting to his feet as well, trying to keep the raft as balanced as he could, "Not needing one doesn't mean you can't accept one."

With a cheer he jumped as well, shaking his hair out of his face when he resurfaced. "All men and women have left the ship!", he reported, playfully splashing her, "I believe that means we can return to the nearest shore."