Trustfall || Sanders Sides Equestrian AU

Chapter 3 - Saddle and Ground

Roman stood at the entrance to the stable and stared down the corridor as though it was the open jaws of a monster about to swallow him whole. The last time he was this reluctant about entering the stables was five years ago when his favourite horse had died, and he was scared to pass by her empty stall.

He could see Trigger's stall from where he stood, but his horse must have been on the deeper side of it as he couldn't see him. Roman clenched his jaw and nodded to himself, putting on his best Roman face. The last thing he needed was everyone to know he wasn't feeling himself.

The feeling was bizarre and foreign in his chest; he couldn't quite fit a term to it as he'd rarely ever felt it. On the rare occasions where he did, he would approach the problem with an attitude of "fake it until you make it", and it would eventually go away. It always did.

Roman never felt a lack of confidence for long.

"Roman?"

"Jeez!" he yelped and whirled around at the tap on his shoulder. "You startled me, Laura!"

His instructor gave an innocent smile. "I have a favour to ask of you."

Roman fixed his ruffled hair in a huff. "Sure, I'm listening. No, wait, don't tell me that smart-ass of a foal got his head stuck in that barrel again. Didn't we say next time would be Logan's turn to pull him out? It was my turn last time."

"Not this time around, no."

"Then what do you need?"

"You know Virgil?" she blurted, not missing a beat after his words. Roman frowned.

"Er- I'm not sure? Is that- is that a new horse or something?"

"No, he's a stablehand at the ranch. Been one for some time now."

He stammered. "Virgil is a person? Pffft, what kind of name is that?"

"See, that's exactly the kind of attitude I need you not to have when you're giving him riding lessons."

Roman's brows jerked up. "Wait, riding lessons? I don't even know the guy."

"I'm sure you saw him around. He's here pretty much all day."

His mind flashed back to that emo stablehand he'd seen the other day, and his stomach made an uneasy flip inside of him. The same emo stablehand he'd found getting along just perfectly with Trigger, like he knew him better than Roman did. The thing that probably annoyed Roman the most about the whole thing was the fact it did look that way. It pained to admit it, but Roman couldn't remember the last time Trigger was this relaxed with him. Roman clenched his jaw.

"So... You know who I'm talking about?"

When Roman dragged himself out of the unpleasant thoughts, he found Laura giving him a long look. For how long was he staring at the air and thinking about that guy?

"Yeah, I think I do," he grumbled.

"Great! Then you can start giving him lessons today!"

"Wait, what?"

Laura beamed at him. You'd think that by now, after about seven years of her being somewhat of an older-sister-figure in his life, Roman would be immune to her smile. But that's the thing; no one was immune to Laura's smile. She knew it, that jerk.

"Come on, kid.. I need this," she said. "We need this. For the team."

Roman folded his arms in discomfort across his chest. "Why?"

"He's a great rider, he just needs to learn to jump and I'm sure he's going to get us that cup next season. And honestly, I think the poor guy really needs it, too. I can't think of a better person to teach him."