Darkness

Surprise

When Scott opened the passengers door from the outside, Avi was hit by the smell of a farm.

"A farm? What are we doing here?" he asked and reached out, held onto Scott's hands as he got out of the jeep and stood on uneven ground. "I'm wearing black, it'll get all dusty..."

"You know, some guy once invented a washing machine" Scott mumbled and chuckled. "Do you want to guess what we're going to do today?"

Avi shrugged. "Dunno" he replied and turned. The smell was the same, no matter which way he turned, but he figured out where the sun was and then turned to his boyfriend. He felt his way up to his biceps and squeezed it lightly. "'m ready."

"Alright, let's go. We'll walk a few steps and then you get to meet Oliver."

"Who's that?"

"You'll find out."

Avi huffed but squeezed Scott's biceps again. Together they walked for a few minutes, the path seemed to be rather bumpy and covered in grit and Avi, for the love of God, couldn't figure out why Scott would take him to some random farm in the early afternoon. The man suddenly stopped when he heard a horse. "They have horses too?" the bearded man asked and gasped. "Can we go and pet them? Please, it's been so loooong..."

"Later, okay? I promise."

They kept walking until Avi heard a voice.

"Hi! Scott and Avi?" a woman asked and approached them.

Avi turned his head to her.

"Yes, that's us. Hi" Scott replied and then moved slightly. He shook her hand and smiled. "Thanks for making this possible on such a short notice. We just had a small crisis this morning and I figured that Avi would love coming here."

"And I still don't know what's happening" the bearded man said and smiled as well, extended his hand for the woman to shake it.

They kept walking for a few more minutes until Avi was now able to smell and hear more horse than cow. He was getting excited and kept tugging on Scott's shirt by using his free hand while the other one was still resting around his man's biceps.

"You excited?" the baritone asked and chuckled lightly. "I know that I've been a little mean in the past few days and even though I already apologized I wanted to surprise you and have a nice day out with you. And since you were really big into horse riding when you were a child I figured that you might like getting back on a horse. With me or without, your decision."

Avi gasped and right then he heard the heavy thudding of what had to be a rather big horse, judging by the sound of his feet on the grass, behind him. It slowed down, came to a halt, and then snorted gently.

"You guys, meet Oliver. He's a gentle, black shire" the woman near them explained and watched both men, especially Avi, grin. She handed him an apple and guided his hand near the horses nose.

The bass bit his lip when he felt the soft nose gently nipping on his hand, locating the apple. Oliver took it and bit down, chewed slowly and allowed Avi to touch his nose and move up to his forehead. "He's so soft" the bearded man mumbled and started scratching the horse's forehead. Avi closed his eyes. He suddenly felt at peace, he felt like all the weight that had been on his shoulders for days, weeks, months, fell off and allowed him to breathe easier. "He's big, isn't he? His head is so big..." Avi felt the large head suddenly pressed against his chest and he bent over to press a soft kiss on the horse's long fringe.

"He's a good 68 inches" the woman said and patted Oliver's neck. "Pretty average for a shire horse. But yes, probably bigger than the horses you've met."

Avi nodded and smiled. He felt Scott's hand on his back and turned his head in his direction. "Have you ever met a shire horse, Scott? You can touch him, he's such a sweet guy.."

But Scott just chuckled nervously. "I think I'm good. His feet are massive."

"Hooves" the brunette corrected him. "Yeah, but that's normal. Large boys need large feet."

"Well, how about we stop talking about feet and hooves and you take him to the stable?"

"Why?"

"So you can help Hannah to get him nice and clean. And then, I don't know, I vaguely remember something about horse riding?"

"Scott, you didn't..."

"I did."

"I hate you" Avi mumbled, pouted and then turned around to hug him. "Thank you so much. That's so sweet and thoughtful of you."

Scott smiled and picked the top of his head. "You're welcome, Love. Can I leave you with Hannah? Or do you want me to come with you?"

Instead of giving Scott a verbal answer Avi just reached for his hand and gently tugged on it. 

"Okay, then I'll come with you" the tall baritone said and smiled. 

Avi blushed lightly when he remembered Hannah next to them, but the woman didn't seem to mind. She gently touched Avi's upper arm and handed him the halter before she guided Oliver's head down for the bass to be able to put it on him. 

"You're a natural!" the woman exclaimed when Avi closed it and handed him the braided lead rope. "Oliver will guide you. He knows where to go. Just let him, okay?"

The bearded man hummed and reached up. He let go of Scott's arm to take the rope into one hand while his other one reached around the throat latch and held it. While he still wasn't too sure about what was going on he allowed the large Shire horse to lead him to the stable and Scott, with his hand lightly resting on Avi's back, and Hannah followed.