A-maze-ing

by myonlinelifeismorephantastic

What starts out as a light-hearted competition quickly becomes disaster as it turns out Phil's not so A-maze-ing after all and needs Dan to come and save him. At least the hedges aren't set on fire.

'Try not to get hopelessly lost Philly,' Dan laughed as we paused at the entrance to the maze before venturing into the tall corridors of hedges. He turned and grinned at me, touching my arm lightly and I shivered at the contact. His skin felt so nice on mine, always had done and always would, no matter how many times he held my hand.

'Wait, aren't we going together?' I asked confused, assuming we'd tackle the challenge with each other but Dan apparently had other plans.

'What? No,' he said incredulously with an amused grin, 'Come on Phil, it's a race!' he explained with a mischievous smile. I groaned, putting on my best pouty expression, not really wanting to go alone and hoping to convince Dan otherwise. It was a pretty big complicated maze and I didn't want to get lost without Dan there beside me.

'Does it have to be?' I asked in complaint and Dan rolled his eyes but rubbed my arm in reassurance.

'Yeah, it's more fun that way,' he replied happily, grinning again and looking slightly smug. 'You're just scared I'm gonna beat you,' he teased and I frowned, insulted slightly.

'No!' I said defensively, trying to be upset he thought he could beat me so easily but that was hard to do when I was staring into his beautifully brown eyes which were grinning back at me skeptically. 'I'm only going to get lost; I can feel it. How would you feel if I got lost forever in the maze and you never saw me again?' I asked with that pout, trying to guilt him into giving in because I may have had another reason for wanting to go with him that I'd be less willing to admit to him, a little bit secret agenda. Getting lost for hours in a hedge maze like I knew would probably happen either way was not exactly high on my lost of favourable afternoon activities but if I was with Dan I'd figured it would be a perfect opportunity for a bit of a private make out session, and that would be sort of sexy. For whatever reason I was a little hot for him in particular today anyway, so it would only be all the better.

Dan laughed and I stared transfixed by him; it was probably something to do with the fact he was wearing the pair of jeans that had shrunk in the wash.

'I'm sure if you really suck at mazes that much they'd send in a rescue team for you,' he joked through another laugh, drawing me slightly closer to him and I felt a new surge of longing for him as I fought to concentrate. 'But I'm sure you won't be that bad, A-maze-ing Phil,' he teased and I groaned at his terrible pun.

'What makes you so sure you won't get lost too?' I asked suddenly, smiling at him expectantly so sure I had him now, but he grinned back secretively.

'Ahh, I've got a plan Philly, there's always a strategy,' he said mysteriously, tapping the side of his head knowingly and winking at me. I frowned in confusion, skeptical he could really have a strategy in a maze. Surely it was just luck in taking the right turns each time. Running might help too if it was a matter of being fast but knowing Dan, that wasn't anywhere near his 'strategy'.

'How can you have a plan for a maze?' I asked him in disbelief and he rolled his eyes again.

'Phil, darling, if I told you, that would defeat the point of having a secret strategy, now wouldn't it?' He asked in playful condescension, placing his hand on my hip and smiling at me as my face fell a little.

'Yeah, I guess so,' I mumbled and Dan laughed again kindly, leaning forward to place a quick kiss to my cheek.

'You're adorable,' he murmured, grinning widely and I blushed slightly under his gaze. We'd been together 6 years now but I still got butterflies every time he touched me.

'Come on, it's going to get dark in about two hours and if you plan on getting lost...' He said suggestively with another grin and I rolled my eyes, but complied to navigating the maze by myself, knowing I'd lose our race regardless, but determined not to get completely lost at least. Otherwise I'd never hear the end of it.

'Kay, you're going down,' I said playfully as we moved closer to the entrance of the maze, the slightly ominous looking hedges, so tall they seemed to cut out most of the light.

'I might later, if you're lucky, but in regards to the Great Maze Race I think you're going to be losing that one, love,' he replied thoughtfully, grinning at me after a second as I realised what he'd meant and blushed furiously. That familiar wave of longing for him hit again and a slight feeling similar to my internal organs having a rave party started up just thinking about it.

'Ready?' Dan asked, looking to me as he adopted a sprint start position and I grinned, trying not to get too distracted by the view as he was sticking his bum in the air. I laughed slightly at him, finding how seriously he was taking this utterly adorable despite myself.

'Set,' I replied, facing the opposite direction to him so we weren't just following each other. I glanced behind me seeing Dan smile before screaming 'GO!' and he set off running.

I ran into the maze and almost immediately encountered a three way intersection and had to make a choice. I slowed down, figuring if I was going to get lost I'd be tired pretty quickly if I was running everywhere, before randomly deciding to go right. My 'strategy' was nothing more sophisticated than take random turnings in the hope I get there eventually, and hopefully before Dan. I wasn't really too bothered, but it would be nice to best him for once, at least just for bragging rights and to wipe that smug cockiness from him. Not that he that he really thought he was better than me, but when it came to our little playful games I didn't tend to win too often, which only fuelled Dan's sense of competition.

When I did win occasionally however, I knew from experience this always meant Dan would try and get his own back, usually in the bedroom department. Last time I'd beaten him at some proposed challenge the punishment of sorts had certainly been worth the effort put into beating him, bragging rights aside, and honestly this time I was sort of hoping for something along similar lines.

I grinned thinking about that as I continued to race through the maze but thinking about it didn't exactly help when I was already hot for him and now it was even worse. I couldn't wait to get out of this stupid maze and take him home.

I was hardly noticing where I was going as I continued with my strategy of running around like a headless chicken and hoping to make it to the center, so much so it didn't register that there seemed to be no one else in the maze but me. I didn't know where Dan was, probably at the end already which ruined my winner's fantasies, but I didn't meet anyone else along the way either, which if I'd thought about it was probably not a good sign

And I was starting to get tired as well. Hurrying around a maze in the afternoon heat was beginning to get to me, along with the fact I realised I had no freaking clue where I was, or where Dan was, or how long I'd been running around for because it had never occurred to me to check my phone at the beginning. I stopped at an intersection to take a break, wishing I'd brought a bottle of water or worn shorts today or something that would have made this whole ordeal less likely to end in exhaustion. I groaned, glaring at the hedges and was about to take off again when I felt my phone begin to ring in my pocket.

I answered slightly breathlessly from the maze wandering. 'Hello?' I asked, not even bothering to have looked at the caller ID before answering so it was a surprise when Dan replied, sounding amused.

'Are you lost?' he scorned playfully, and I could hear the annoying grin in his voice.

'No,' I replied curtly, refusing to believe it. I wasn't lost I just hadn't found the end yet. 'I am hot though,' I complained through my annoyance at the maze. It couldn't be this hard to find the exit, I was sure I'd wandered down every path already but I still wasn't lost, just tired and hot and annoyed and in the mood to set fire to hedges.

'Yeah, I know,' Dan replied, casually flirting over the phone and I almost smiled if it wasn't for how much I hated this damn hedge maze. 'But I think you might be a bit lost too...you've been in there a whole hour,' he added sounding worried and I frowned in greater annoyance, not sure if he was genuinely worried or just trying to rub in the fact that yeah, maybe I was lost a little.

'I assume you've finished already then,' I replied sulkily, choosing a direction and heading slowly down the path, all my motivation gone now I'd already lost. This maze was seriously pissing me off.

'Umm, yeah, about half an hour ago,' Dan replied awkwardly and I rolled my eyes. 'Sorry,' he added a moment later sounding sheepish as I took another left turn. Typically he'd beaten me, but the fact I'd taken twice as long as he had and I was still flipping lost was ridiculous. Turning the corner I groaned loudly in frustration as I realised I'd come to a dead end.

'You okay Phil?' Dan asked down the phone, obviously having heard how put out I was and now he sounded unquestionably concerned.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm just great,' I muttered sarcastically, turning around and stalking back the way I came, taking the right turn this time.

'Okay, just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt, but I guess you're not, you just really suck at mazes,' he answered with a little chuckle at the end, the banter back again, and I growled with that annoyance at him again.

Dan laughed. Obviously my failure was amusing him and I scowled, mentally cursing the hedges and the person who invented hedge mazes in the first place.

'Okay well, I'll see you when you finally get here,' Dan told me with another laugh and I continued to wander through the maze, feeling I was only getting further and further away from where I wanted to go with each turn. I'd completely lost all sense of direction.

'Try not to take too much longer in figuring it out, people are starting to think I'm crazy just sitting around here by myself,' he added and my scowl deepened even though he couldn't see.

'I'll try my best,' I said curtly, taking my annoyance out on him a little in the form of sarcasm. I was so frustrated at this stupid freaking maze I didn't even wait for Dan to say bye before hanging up on him; I didn't really need to hear his gloating right now either.

After taking a violent turn to the right, and then left a moment later, my phone vibrated with a text which I glanced at as I came to another dead end.

love you even if you're pathetic at mazes ;)

I couldn't help but smile at Dan's message, the text making me feel warm and bubbly inside despite the imbedded insult. This nicer feeling spurred my determination once again and lifted my mood a little. I wasn't exactly happy, but at least I wasn't scowling at the bushes and muttering insults at leaves and prickles that blocked my way to Dan. Above all else I just wanted to get back to him, I was starting to miss him now.

So I continued my mantra of taking random turns in the hope it would lead me to the centre. Developing a hypnotic rhythm, I realised I was following a pattern of left right left right but after some unknowable amount of time I understood that it was still getting me no where.

I had absolutely no idea where about I was in the maze in relation to any of it, and I had even less of a clue what direction I was supposed to be going in. It was only when I came to my senses enough to notice the sun was starting to set and it was getting a bit colder that I decided I'd have to admit I was truly, genuinely lost, and was actually starting to get a bit worried. The sun was going down, the maze was going to close soon and I was utterly lost with apparently no hope of finding my way out any time soon.

I began running again, feeling desperate, and only grew more and more distressed as my efforts continued to give way to nothing. Everything around me was just towering hedges, dark and scary looking in the dim shadows of twilight and they seemed to bend over at the top, enclosing me in an inescapable cage that made me feel extremely claustrophobic.

I stopped, leaning against the side of the hedge and clutching my side as I felt tears of distress come to my eyes. I wiped them away hurriedly thinking about how right now I wanted nothing more in the world then to be curled up on the couch at home next to Dan watching a movie. It didn't even have to be at home, I just wanted Dan here with me; I knew it had been a terrible idea to go without him.

And now it was starting to get dark, and starting to get cold, and I was hopelessly lost in this dumb maze with no chance of ever getting out it seemed. My hand trembling I fumbled about for my phone again and called Dan.

'Phil! Philly, are you okay love? You've been gone for ages! You're sure you're not hurt, are you?' Dan asked frantically, picking up before the first ring even finished. He sounded panicked, and almost as hysterical as I felt, but the sound of his voice still calmed me a little.

'No, I'm stuck in this stupid maze. It's impossible!' I complained, hearing even in my own voice that it sounded like I was about to cry.

'Aww, Phil love, listen, they gave me a map, I'm going to come and find you okay. Just keep still where you are right now and stay talking to me okay,' he said sympathetically and I tried to take a few deep breaths before replying.

'Okay, thanks. Can you hurry please it's getting dark and I...I don't like this maze...' I mumbled, giving up on trying to hide how scared I was now.

'I'll come as fast as I can for you, kay?' Dan replied over the faint sound of footsteps, it sounded like he was running.

'That's not something you usually say,' I said shyly, smiling despite my situation and Dan laughed, the sound pleasant and calming me further as I focused on my breathing and the sound of his voice.

'True,' he replied in amusement before sighing. 'Phil, look I'm sorry I put you through this, I thought it would be fun but oh crap, it's starting to rain. I'm sorry,' he repeated, groaning in frustration as indeed I felt a few light splashes of water hit my face.

'You can't control the weather Dan,' I reminded him kindly. Before I'd been ready to make him pay as much as possible for dragging me into this maze and making me go alone, but now I couldn't be bothered, and I wasn't really mad with him. I could never really be mad at him, especially for something as stupid as this. Because it had been fun, for a while, and the idea had been fun, it wasn't his fault I held the world record for being the worst at mazes or that it was raining rather heavily now. At least I had a water proof case on my phone.

'I'll make it up to you, I promise,' Dan said sincerely and I smiled as the rain hit my face. I wasn't cross or even annoyed anymore; I knew Dan had only been trying to do something fun with me on our holiday, he'd been trying the whole time to make this holiday perfect because it had been a while since either of us had had a break, and on the whole he was doing a perfect job. It only made me love him more when I saw how much he was trying for me, so I couldn't even entertain the idea of blaming him for long. As long as he got me out of this damn maze.

'Dan, it's fine,' I urged him, knowing he wouldn't forgive himself for a while at least, but that was just Dan, he was too hard on himself. I expected him to argue at that but instead there was only silence down the phone for a moment before he spoke again.

'Wait, Phil, say something else, I think I can hear you,' he said, sounding excited. I frowned, I couldn't hear him, at least I didn't think so, but I complied anyway.

'What do you want me to say? Just keep talking I guess, umm okay, I'm really hungry actually, in addition to being damp, and I think we should go out for dinner after this, somewhere really romantic because I'm in that sort of a mood and after dinner I think we should go back to the hotel and have sex because I've been wanting you all day and I've missed you and you owe me for trapping me in a maze all afternoon.'

'I like the way you think,' I heard Dan say with a small laugh of what sounded almost like relief and I realised I hadn't heard him over the phone this time. I span around and nearly face planted into Dan right in front of me, standing there with a beautiful grin on his face, his now curly hair plastered to his head, wet from the rain like his shirt, which was clinging to him gently.

Immediately I pulled him into a tight hug, holding him as close as I could to me, his arms wrapping around my waist as I buried my head in his shoulder.

'Dan, I thought I'd never see you again,' I cried in relief as he rubbed my back gently, his chest vibrating as he laughed softly at that.

'And I thought you'd been eaten by the hedges,' he replied sarcastically. 'Seriously, you were pathetically slow, that three year old behind us in line for tickets did it faster!' He teased and I groaned.

'Shhh, don't rub it in,' I condoned him, letting my hand trace down his wet cheek as I leant back to look at him. 'Just come here,' I murmured before moving in for a kiss.

The rain was coming down much heavier now but we didn't care and we were quickly soaked, but it was sort of romantic making out in the rain, to top off my longed for intra-hedge kiss. The rain dripped down our faces, falling in our open mouths, running down our backs as Dan kissed me passionately, his lips wet and sliding all over mine. When his tongue slipped into my mouth he tasted like the rain, fresh and clean and cool; it was incredibly sexy.

I couldn't resist but to kiss him as passionately as I could, letting my hands tangle through his wet hair as my hips grinded up against him, our bodies colliding as my lips moved furiously against his. Before I'd been slightly hot for him but now, well now I just wanted to take him right here in the middle of the maze.

I moaned into his mouth as Dan ran his hands over me and I just wanted more and more of him so quickly, wanted to feel his touch everywhere, his hands all over me. I struggled to get closer, wishing I had a solid wall to push him up against as I fantasised about everything I wanted to do to him as soon as we got back to the hotel.

Unable to stop myself I let my hands run down his body, feeling him everywhere I could, indescribably glad he was here with me now, it was such a sense of relief I just felt desperate to have him, desperate to make sure he really was with me again now. It sort of slipped my mind that we were technically still in a public place, or that it was raining and we were both soaked, I was just concentrating on Dan's body on mine, the feel of his lips on mine, attacking my own furiously, desperately, with that certain hunger, the urge for domination, always a competition as every part of us struggled to get closer and closer still.

Without thinking I let my hands fall lower, resting over his bum as I tried to pull him closer and I didn't hold back. When thinking about being with Dan turned me on I let it, and very quickly began to feel my pants become slightly restraining as a result. I moaned again as a small shift of my hips brushed my arousal against Dan's side.

'Woah,' he said in surprise, pulling back suddenly but grinning at me as I felt myself blush, the kiss broken so I came to my senses a little and realised what was happening. 'Okay,' he laughed in amusement, staying close to me, his hand resting on my hip and I was practically screaming in my head for him to just let his touch slip round the front a little. I tried to shift my hips under him again to get him where I wanted, desperate for that to happen. 'Maybe I should get you home right now,' he joked, stepping back from me a bit, still smiling, and I felt my blush deepen as my coherence increased in proportion to Dan's proximity to me, causing me to more fully realise the inappropriateness of our reunion.

'Sorry, I'm just happy to see you,' I murmured in apology, feeling a little ashamed for the admittedly over enthusiastic hello but to be fair I had been worried I'd be lost in the maze for the rest of my life and I'd never get to see my boyfriend again. Even if I was exaggerating a little, I had genuinely missed him, so it was totally truthful when I said I was happy to see him again. I was always happy to see Dan, but when I was cold, wet, tired, hungry and had been wandering aimlessly around a maze for the best part of 3 hours, his presence was even more gratefully appreciated.

'I can tell,' Dan replied with a highly suggestive smile, glancing down and as if it were possible my blush deepened as I noticed the look of longing that had formed in his eyes. 'Come on, I said I'd make it up to you; I think I know the perfect way,' he added grinning, grabbing my hand and pulling me along back in the direction he'd come.