Pas(sade) de Cheval

Coffin

"Hey, wait up!" A voice faintly called from behind him. His heart jumped into his throat at the thought that the voice was not a hallucination and belonged to who he hoped it did. He paused his stride and turned around, a little nervous to be disappointed.

Brendon jogged up to him, clutching a cramp in his side and sucking in air. "Wow, I need to do more cardio apparently. Running is hard." He joked, managing to catch his breath and stand upright.

Ryan studied him, not sure what to say, or why he'd chased him.

"I saw you leaving, and realized I really didn't want you to." Brendon said in way of explanation to Ryan's unasked question.

Ryan felt a small smile creep over his face. "Really?" He asked before before he could think better of it.

"Duh." Brendon smirked. His face was difficult to make out in the darkness. "I'd rather be hanging out with you than any of the people back there." Ryan tried to make out if he was blushing, but it was impossible to tell. The only cues he had to go by was his voice, and the quickly disappearing space between them. He wasn't sure when they'd gotten closer, but he could suddenly smell a hint of bourbon on Brendon's breath. He had a lot of bad associations with the smell of alcohol, but he realized he was glad to let Brendon make some better ones.
"Do you want to walk around?" Brendon asked. 

"Yeah, sounds good." Ryan replied. Neither of them made to move, or stepped away at all. "I genuinely can't comprehend how I've been so stupid and blind." Ryan muttered to himself, studying the vague details of Brendon's face that he could make out, and savouring the feeling of warmth coming off of his body.

Brendon made a soft noise of confusion, which Ryan didn't reply to. Instead, he brought a hand up to Brendon's cheek, marvelling at the feeling of his stubble under the pad of his thumb. Maybe the weed was stronger than he realized. 

Brendon looked like he wasn't breathing as his gaze darted between Ryan's mouth and his eyes.
Ryan felt his pulse hammering in his neck as their chests pressed together and he was forced to tilt his head down to properly see Brendon's face. 

Brendon's lips parted slightly, and Ryan lowered his head to kiss him. 

Brendon gripped his hips and pulled him closer. Ryan's hands had moved to the back of Brendon's head at some point without his knowledge, and he tangled his fingers in the soft hair.
Brendon finally took a deep breath through his nose, relaxing all the tension he'd been holding onto.

When they finally broke apart, still holding each other closely, all that was said was a quiet, "Huh," as Brendon stared at Ryan in shock. A little bit of worry rose up in Ryan as he wondered if that wasn't the stupidest thing he'd ever done. Brendon looked speechless, and Ryan seized the opportunity to make a quick retreat, saying something so inconsequential that he'd already forgotten the words by the time they left his mouth. 

Brendon said nothing in response, and judging by Ryan's inability to hear any noises, he was still standing in the same place, watching Ryan walk away for the second time that night.

---------

Ryan sat on Betty in the warm up ring, head bobbing in time to the music that was pumping out of his headphones. He had a specific song for each phase of the event, and he listened to them before riding, without fail. The dressage song was calming, but made him feel important and sit a little taller. The cross country one was heavy rock, with a pounding drum line that made him want to punch someone in the face and gave him all the confidence in the world. The show jump one was jazzy and bouncy and made him feel like he was walking on air. 

The song came to an end and immediately looped, starting again with the slow build that had his blood pumping faster. He'd always found music the best way to get into the headspace a certain ride required, and he'd perfected his song choice by the time he was twelve.