Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy // Reddie

three

For dinner, Mike grilled steak on the stove. When Eddie took his first bite of the juicy meat, he fell into heaven. Mike never appeared as the chef type to him.

Dwelling on the events from earlier in the day, Eddie gulps some wine and announces, "you guys didn't tell me you had a stableman."

Mike and Stanley share a look. A look for each other that only they could read, and Eddie starts to feel like something might have happened that shouldn't have.

"So, you met Rich, " Mike assumes.

The student nods, "yeah. He complimented my shorts, " he scowled at the adult with twirled, blond locks.

Mike shakes his head and rests his fork on the table cloth, which catches Stan's attention, and he is sharp to tell the man to remove it from his decor.

After transferring his fork from the cloth to his plate, Mike apologizes, "I'm sorry you had to meet him that way. I was hoping I'd be around when you did."

"I'm sorry you had to meet him, period, " mutters Stanley, sipping his wine.

Eddie's eyebrow scar folds when he cocks it. Mike notices the curiosity and clarifies, "Stan isn't a big fan of Richie."

"I can see why."

"Eh, " Mike flattens his hand and shakes it to show his opinion on Richie, "he doesn't have much of a filter, and sometimes he doesn't think with his brain. But he's good with the horses."

"Speaking of horses," Stanley stacks their dishes and carries them to the sink. "Mike and I are going horseback riding through the field tomorrow," he advises Eddie while he runs hot water over the tableware, "would you want to join us?"

Eddie attempts to map out how much online work he has to do, and when concluding it won't be much, he shrugs, "why not?"

Stanley returns to the table and smiles, "great."

-

Before falling asleep on floral bedsheets, Eddie was determined to get some late-night classwork done. His laptop was flipped open and balancing on his thighs, and his fingers sped against them as they typed out a passage for a fake news article. He appreciated the peace in quiet that the empty farmhouse bedroom brought to him. Even if the bed sheets are ugly, at least there aren't two college students having sex in them while he tries to finish the paper.

He feels comfortable now that he is dressed in his own clothes. Stanley's fashion sense has drastically changed since high school— and part of Eddie can understand why. He's sure this weather drove Stanley crazy. Crazy enough to wear shorts that, from a few feet away, make him appear to be practically in his underwear. Eddie wonders if he even wears men's underwear anymore, and he wouldn't be surprised if Stanley transferred to women's. He laughed at the thought.

Fingers pause, hovering above alphabetic keys as the student remembers modeling in Stanley's full-length mirror after putting the silly, girly clothes on. To him, his ass was absurdly straining, and his legs looked ridiculous since. He didn't shave them because he wasn't prepared to swap closets like this. He honestly does not know what that stableman saw in his outfit that made him attractive. Even Stanley thought he looked impressive.

-

The next day, Eddie woke up and shaved his legs in the shower. Heated droplets of water splattered around his back, painting it wet like a canvas. The water trickled down the back of his legs, to his feet, and washed away through the drain.

He propped his foot on the edge of the bathtub and lathered his leg in shaving cream that smelled like cherries. It was either that or shaving cream without a scent. Mike and Stanley really are two different people; Eddie wonders if that's why they go together so well.

A razor glided up Eddie's leg. Then, he shook it clean in the running water and repeated. His other leg received the same treatment, and he topped everything off with a body scrub for sensitive skin.

After rinsing off, he twisted the knob on the bathtub until the water expired, slung open the curtain, and then lowered his feet onto the mat on the floor. His toes wiggled on the cotton.

When Eddie strolled into his room for the summer with a towel fastened around his waist, his eyes landed on a neatly folded pile of clothes and a yellow post-it-note. His feet took him to the edge of the bed, which was nicely made now, and he grasped the note in between his first and middle fingers.

We're saddling up by the stables. Breakfast is on the stove. Here are some clothes for the week. Come join us when you're done! ♡︎

-Stanley

Eddie stuck the note somewhere on the dresser because crumbling it up would have made him feel bad. He eyed the clothes assigned to him for the week and ultimately accepted the fact that he won't be wearing anything from his own closet this summer.

a/n- this chapter is shorter than the others, and the ones coming after. oopsies

stay safe
- me <3