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THAT'S WHEN I LOVED YOU [PIN HAWTHORNE]

Summary: When Pin gets arrested for being the horse thief, it leads to something unpredictable.

"Thief!" Zoe's voice echoed through the yard, alarming everyone to come out from the stables and stop what they were doing at the yard. Pixie neighed a little, causing you to caress her muzzle before you stuck your head out the stable gate, seeing Zoe explain something about medicines and how Pin is the horse thief. You were confused at first, especially when Pin didn't even defend himself - but then it struck you. The wild horse.

You started fumbling with the gate lock, but your hands were shaking too much so you groaned and just jumped over the gate, running up to your friends. "Wait! He's not the thief!"

Zoe huffed, glaring at Pin. "I saw him breaking the lock, and I heard medicines have been disappearing lately."

Mia nodded and scoffed, crossing her arms. "Not to mention his family kind of has a thief reputation... this was expected really."

You squeezed your hands into fists, taking a threatening step towards Mia. "Hey, the Raven case was–"

"Leave it," Pin interrupted, sighing. "Just... let's let the police deal with this."

You lunged forward, taking Pin's hands in yours. "But–"

Pin shook his head, gently pulling his hands off your grip. His stubbornness in these situations was infuriating, being too scared of authorities finding out about him hiding a sick wild horse and it ending up being killed because of lack of resources. Even if he was arrested in the process, and he would get his name into criminal records. But he knew he'd get out of it once they'd conclude he's not that thief they're looking for, but it still would left a mark into his records - and in worst case, that could ruin his future.

Despite Pin being adamant on not telling the truth about why he was stealing medicines, it didn't stop you from sitting beside him on the stairs, hugging his arm as you waited for the police. And when the police finally came and you watched the car drive away, you felt a hand on your shoulder and shook it off, wiping angry tears. You pushed through Becky and Jade trying to comfort you and placed yourself in front of Zoe. "He tried to make you feel welcome, and this is what you give him in return?"

Then you stormed off before she had the chance to say anything, going to Pixie's stable and let her snuggle you for the rest of the day as tears began to roll down your cheeks and your quiet sobs filled that little stable.

—

You hadn't meant to fall asleep, but the next time you opened your eyes, it was morning and Mia was screaming something at the other side of the yard. You groaned and made a move to get up and Pixie let out a quiet whine as you left her side.

"I know, me too girl." You smiled softly at her and scratched her muzzle before you stood up. "Would much rather sleep too."

You picked out some stray hay straws out of your hair, before you peeked out from Pixie's stable and upon seeing Mia gesturing to Raven's empty stable with a police officer taking a statement, you already knew what it was about. You sighed and opened the gate, making your way to Mia after the officer left.

"Pin must be a magician, stealing horses even from behind bars," you couldn't help but mock, earning a glare from Mia.

She crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "They thought Firefly is Raven. Idiots. And as for Pin, he's being released, alright?" she grunted, nodding towards the officer who was now taking a statement from Sam. "She just called the station and they'll bring your boyfriend back."

You didn't say anything to that, knowing she was taunting you in hopes you'd start to deny your very obvious feelings for your best friend. So you looked down instead and Mia scoffed, turning away from you and marching away, leaving you alone. You made your way to one of the benches, fiddling with your hands.

Boyfriend.

You knew it was stupid to harbor such feelings for him, you had been best friends since you both still wore diapers. Most of your earliest memories involved Pin somehow, he probably saw you as a sister - he would probably be even creeped out by you to see him in any other sense than a brother.

You still remembered the moment you had realised you're in love with him. It had been almost two years, and you had baked some treats together for the Pony Prom. You had played around with flour, and he had grabbed your hands so you wouldn't be able to throw more of it at him, pulling you close - and after your laughter died down, there had been silence. Pin had smiled so wide and you found yourself having a strong desire to kiss him. And immediately when you realised that, you had pulled away and excused yourself, running to the bathroom. You had stayed there for at least fifteen minutes, trying to figure out what you were feeling - why you were feeling that way. Feeling that way about your best friend.

Pin had knocked, and you had yelped before he asked if you were okay and you had squealed that you'll be coming back soon. You had decided there that you'd wait it out - your feelings would disappear soon enough.

But of course, that didn't happen and they had just kept growing. They grew larger and larger each time you spent time with Pin, and your heart wanted to scream your feelings to the world, but you had forced yourself to keep them inside you. At least the best you could, but it spilled out sometimes in small doses. The girls knew how you felt, just from how you looked at Pin.

Your thoughts were interrupted when you saw a police car driving to the yard and you jumped up, playing with your hoodie string until Pin came out. He closed the door and made a brief eye contact with Sam until he locked eyes with you, and that's when you sprinted towards him, almost toppling him over from colliding with him and wrapping your arms around him tightly, before you let yourself cry again.

Pin was clearly taken aback by your intense reaction before he carefully hugged you back, burying his face to the crook of your neck and you stayed like that for a while, before you reluctantly pulled back, your eyes darting around his face. Pin smiled at you.

"Good to know someone missed me this much here," he murmured, and you choked out a tearful laugh at that, your hands traveling up from his shoulders to his cheeks. Pin's smile faded slightly in confusion, before something in you took control and you leaned in to press your lips against his.

Pin didn't respond at first and you were about to pull back, but then his arms circled you tightly as he kissed you back. Time seemed to slow, world around you disappeared, it was all the clichés you had seen in those cheesy romcoms before. It was your first kiss, and you couldn't believe you were sharing it with Pin. You had dreamed of that moment on many nights, always feeling disappointed when you realised it had been just a dream.

After a moment, you were forced to separate to get some air, and Pin pressed his forehead against yours, your noses brushing together. You could sense everyone looking, but you didn't care. Even though in your dreams, the moment of your first kiss was a romantic, private one, you found yourself not minding this one either. His hands going down to rest on your hips while your hands shifted from his cheeks to around his neck. You didn't speak, you both knew you didn't need to.

Because that moment told everything you needed to tell each other.