326101 Caramel nodded and pointed back to his saddlebags on the hay-bail with his free hoof. He felt embarrassed, but he wasn't quite sure why that was stopping him from speaking. He just knew that if he tried he probably wouldn't be able to.

His emerald eyes slowly shifted to the saddle bags as he trotted over slowly, pulling out a rag of his own before walking back to the water and dripping it in, taking it out and going to the wall about ten feet from the tan pony and going about his work.

Big Macintosh couldn't help but glace at him every now and again to make sure he was doing the work properly. He thought once or twice he needed to stop being such an idiot and just focus on cleaning himself.326124

326379 Caramel eyes were drawn back to Big Macintosh constantly. Perhaps it was the boring task, but he found the only time he managed to stop staring at the stallion was when he saw Big Mac was about to look at him.

"So," the tan pony started after a few minutes, hoping to break up the monotony, "How's the family?"

327118 Big Macintosh paused for a moment "Mostly fine." He said "Granny's hip is still bad." He resumed his washing for a brief moment. "How about your's?"

327142 "They're just fine," Caramel responded quickly, "Toffee's wedding's this fall actually."

327245 "That so?" Big Macintosh was silent for a while "Anypony... special in your eyes?" He mumbled. He avoided looking at Caramel.

327482 "N-no not at the moment," Caramel responded nervously. "I haven't been that lucky in love...unfortunately." He found his mind wandering back to the coin and, more importantly, the rake.

327610 "Hard sometimes." Big Macintosh mumbled, stealing once more glance back at the tan pony.

327614 Caramel nodded. "So what about you? Any special somepony?"

327639 Big Macintosh shrugged "Complicated, most of the time anyway." He mumbled. out.

327651 Caramel put on his smile and shook his head. "Is that a no then?"

327687 "Eeyup." Big Macintosh said, and resumed his scrubbing on the wall. He looked like he was deep in thought for several moments, although it was hard to tell with that poker face of his.

"Lot of... ponies don't really like to get close to me, either 'cause I'm scary looking or don't like to talk much." He admitted, looking away from Caramel for a good long while.

327690 Caramel couldn't help but chuckle. "Okay, quiet I'll give you," he said turning to face the stallion finally," But you must be joking about scary. I've seen more intimidating ponies at the spa." The tan pony started to laugh again, but stopped abruptly and turned back to the wall. "Umm...no offense."

327722 Big Macintosh chuckled. "Kinda makes me feel better actually." He said. "A lot of them find me intimidating just 'cause I sort er... get shy when trying to talk, and end up seeming like I'm sort of a rude jerk 'cause of it."

327726 "I can't say I can relate," Caramel said with a sigh, "Most ponies find me more 'insufferably nice' as my sis puts it." He turned back and displayed his smile once more. "I'm sure you can see why."

327736 Big Macintosh shrugged once more, it was more of a habit at this point. He blinked several times before looking down at his rag. "Don't usually talk this much..." He mumbled to himself.

327743 Caramel turned away and got back to work. "Sorry about that. I just thought this was getting kind of boring." He felt like smacking himself again, but that would doubtlessly just make Big Mac even more uncomfortable. Instead he just resolved to quiet down.

327750 "Isn't a bad thing..." Big Macintosh said "Just sort of... surprising myself a little..."

327752 "A-alright," Caramel was blushing again, so he casually skipped a small section and moved on to the next wall, "Wel then let's keep talking I guess. Um...what's your favorite food? Besides apples I mean."

327762 Big Macintosh had to think about this a moment. He looked down at the section he was washing for a long time. "Usually all we have is apples, but once or twice ah've liked myself a few oranges." Big Mac moved to another section, feeling awkward for making Caramel blush.

328223 Caramel chuckled. "Let's try something a bit easier. Favorite apple based food?"

328418 Big Macintosh paused for a moment. "Apple Fritters, or Caramel Apples." He mumbled, making damn sure he wasn't going to face the tan pony when he said "Caramel Apples".

329497 Caramel found himself blushing more powerfully now. For a second it passed his mind that Big Mac might be flirting with him, but he quickly pushed that thought down. "Yeah, caramel apples are nice," he said," Nothing better to eat at a fair."

330465 "Wrong thing to say..." Big Macintosh hissed at himself, as if he were angry with himself. His cheeks blushed even through his red coat... it was strange to say the least. The levels of awkward simply kept on rising.

330688 Caramel couldn't help but take a look at Big Mac after hearing a comment like that, despite his blush. He found to his surprise that the stallion seemed to be avoiding his gaze. "I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"

330731 "N-No..." Big Macintosh mumbled. "Ah did..."

330810 Caramel chuckled. "You didn't say anything wrong Big Mac. Don't worry."

331173 Big Macintosh glanced down, his cheeks feeling hot. "Ah don't think ya like it when ah make ya blush..." He mumbled "Ah know I wouldn't" He paused for a while "Ah ain't tryin', I really ain't..." He murmured.

331799 Caramel quickly hid his face again. "It's not that I don't like you making me blush," he said, more quietly than he wanted to," You're just being nice. It's just I look silly when I blush."

331978 "Not really..." Big Macintosh mumbled, he quickly hid his face after realizing he said those words out loud.

331994 Caramel smiled to himself. "Umm...thanks."

332014 Big Macintosh was silent for a few moments "Now ah'm blushin'" He mumbled.

332015 "Now that I'd like to see," Caramel said half-jokingly. He glanced behind himself to see, to his disappointment, the Big Mac was facing a wall.

332017 "Fur's already red..." He mumbled. He blinked a few times before turning slowly to face the tan pony, avoiding his eyes.

332022 Caramel couldn't help but stifle a laugh. The embarrassment on Big mac's usually stoic face was adorable. "I didn't think red could get that bright," he said before turning around and getting back to his work. "It's cute."

332023 Big Macintosh let out a small sound that could only be described as embarrassment. "C-Cute?" He asked.

332281 Caramel nodded, but didn't turn. "Y-yeah. Cute."

332375 "T-That's a first..." He mumbled out.

332378 Caramel shook his head. "You obviously don't get out much," he mumbled, "You know, most of the mares in town think you're really handsome."

332391 Big Macintosh paused "Ah ain't really interested in fallin' in love and settlin' down with some mare quite yet..." He said.

332502 "I'm just saying. If you wanted to you could," Caramel said with a slightly forced chuckle.

332735 Big Macintosh remained silent, his ears drooping slightly before perking up rather forcefully as he gently ran the cloth up and down a part of the barn already cleaned.

333112 Caramel stole another glance at the stallion as he moved to the next wall. "It looks like we're almost finished here," he said as cheerfully as he could competently fake.

333416 Big Macintosh nodded "Yeah," He mumbled. He blinked several times as he moved onto another wall as well. He couldn't tell if the situation was getting worse or better from when they started talking...

333420 Caramel turned back to the wall. They were on a collision course now, so there was no way to avoid being seen. It was best to avoid any more awkwardness if possible, but the tan colt wasn't sure what to say to break the silence. "So um..." he started," Read any good books lately?"

333424 Big Macintosh blushed once again, he didn't try to hide it in the slightest. Instead of answering, he decided to state the obvious. "This is just getting more and more awkward." He mumbled.

333430 Caramel looked down, but found that instead of frowning like a normal pony, he had somehow managed to slip back into that stupid smile of his. "Yeah, sorry about that." He turned back and displayed his grin to Big Mac. "I'll be quiet." With that said he went quickly back to work. making sure to increase his pace.

333437 "Ain't yer fault." Big Macintosh mumbled. "Likely... mine..."

333441 Caramel shook his head, and his smile started to waiver. He held it, but just barely. "No it's mine. I'm sorry, I should've just done the job I was hired to do. I shouldn't have forced conversation."

333443 "It ain't bad..." Big Macintosh mumbled. "Fact... I kinda liked it..."